The name of this post is a joke. A group of us here has been making these and we joke that "we've gone down a rabbit hole." Hence the name, rabbit hole covers. Actually these will eventually be turned into pin cushions once I can stop hand sewing them and find time to turn them into pin cushions.

This first set are woven patterns. You do some stitching then you weave through the stitching to create the design.

This one is a rice pattern.

This one is just a spiral ending with an X in the middle.

We started ...

I'm working on quite a few mystery projects this year that I just can't share on my blog.  I know a lot of you come here each week for inspiration, so from time to time I'm going to share some of my earlier quilts that you might have missed.  

This is my sashiko quilt that I made 10 years ago when my son went to Japan on a school exchange trip.  

I started with a pattern from Nancy's Stitch Studio, but then I used library books and the internet to research sashiko patterns. I found lots ...

Our local quilt guild had a program in September with a workshop on making a Sashiko bag. I had not tried this before, so I signed up to take the class. It turned out to be a really fun way of doing handwork that finishes quickly. The needles and threads are large, making it easy to see and do. The stitches are worked by rocking the needle in and out over several stitches, then pulling the thread through. In general, the lines are geometric, but really, anything goes.

One challenge is to stitch the rows in such a way as ...

A Personal Invitation

I would like to personally invite you to join me on an
EXCLUSIVE Quilting and Textile Art Studios Tour of Japan in 2023!

Now that borders have opened, all travel restrictions have been dropped, and you can freely travel to and from Japan, who’s ready to plan the most exciting, fun and amazing trip in 2023? I’m absolutely thrilled to announce I will be personally leading a small, intimate group to Japan next year from May 9 – 19, 2023 on the trip of a lifetime! I’ve been working closely with Judy Barry of Opulent ...

Finishing up the Quilt of Valor this week was easy, as my machine behaved itself. Amazingly, I ran out of bobbin thread at the end of a pass each time, so no tying off in the middle of the quilt. That doesn’t happen often! I used white Glide thread on top, and white Bottom Line in the bobbin.

The pantograph is Blue Star from Urban Elementz.

I finished it up on Monday, and the client picked it up on Tuesday. She’ll trim and bind it, then add a label, and it will be ready to award to a ...

It has been a very busy week, with a lot going on. Settle in for a long and chatty post. Starting on Monday, I worked a shift sorting and preparing the quilts from the Mountain State Fair to be returned to their owners. We folded up the quilts and arranged them in alphabetical order, stacking up quilts going back to the same quilter. Some, like me, entered several quilts. When my shift was over, it took me about half an hour to locate all my entries in the various categories and check out. When I got home, I unpinned the ...

When people ask me where to start with Sashiko, I often suggest one of these fukin (foo-keen) and tell them to pick a design they will actually finish. If you go for the super complex designs on your first try, it’s more likely you’ll get frustrated and shove it in a drawer, never to be seen again.

Keep your hands happy. Make a little Sashiko Fukin (刺し子ふきん) towel, also called a hana-fukin (“flower cloth” 花ふきん) or yume-fukin (“dream cloth” 夢ふきん). I’ve selected a classic design for beginners that I think you’ll enjoy even if you’re ...

Pictured from left to right: Kathi Slee, QLD Sales Educator, Melissa Wilkes, Sales Educator, and Peter Kross.

During our recent trip to Bribane and Surfer’s Paradise in Queensland, we had the wonderful experience to meet some terrific new friends! Kent and I were invited by Peter Kross, Janome QLD State Manager, to visit the Janome headquarters in Brisbane and we were incredibly honored! We spent a few hours with Peter and his amazing team, and they were gracious and so very generous with their time (and some amazing Janome swag, that I plan to gift forward to some Janome-America ...

 I finished up my "kanwandiko" sample and have turned it into a Chunky Wee Zippy Pouch. Unfortunately, I am currently out of the patterns, but more have been ordered. It was more popular than I expected!

This is the last photo I took of my piece before turning it into a bag.

Here it is finished. It measures about 5" by 5" by 5". This is the "storage cube" size from the pattern.

For the inside I used a scrap of backing fabric from a previous quilt.

 I made this notebook cover several months ago. I thought I had shared it with you but I can't find the post so I guess I forgot!

The notebook cover above is my first attempt. For it I used some Essex Linen Denim color, scraps and size 8 pearl cotton in four variegated colors. I just laid the scraps on the linen and left the edges raw. A running stitch holds everything in place. The scraps are not fused or appliqued to the linen, just sewn on with the running stitches. I like working with the pearl cotton but ...

I’ve had four different nudges to get back into teaching over the past two weeks. Three are for shows/organizations I’ve worked with before, and one is from a friend who knows my work. I responded to the three with my usual “I’m working on it, will send info soon” response as I dodged the professional responsibility to be punctual, thoughtful, and organized.

It’s the last one that got to me. My friend Judy mentioned I might get in touch with SFSNAD and see if they’d have me. She teaches there and has heard students ...

I've been very busy quilting during the last few weeks. It's been such fun! However, I realised that with all of these busy projects, I'm missing the meditative calmness that slow stitching brings. So today I spent some time finishing up my "Please let me play" piece.

Adjusting the composition

In the Out of the Box Textile Artists Group, we've been learning about composition. I've read a lot about it, but it always feels more intuitive than just following rigid (or black and white) rules. I get the feeling that there's a lot of ...

After the holidays, it was good to start 2022 calmly and quietly. I did a little bit of free motion quilting (FMQ) which I will show you at the end of this post. Today I want to share with you a very fun project - another squirrel!

Stitching on a clean-up cloth

The first workshop of the year at TextileArtists.org was presented by Vanessa Marr. It's called Domestic Story Cloths. Vanessa stitches stories of women and domestic work on dusters. I was intrigued by the workshop and took a couple of days to think about the possibilities. 

please let ...

Welcome to Week 24 of Stitch Sew & Show! 

This one is a sashiko skill builder ... 

24 Days of Sashiko @ Sashiko.Lab

There are also free video tutorials for 

How To Prepare Sashiko Cloth ~ Video Lessons

I started learning sashiko last year. 

My First Sashiko ~ Click Here

I found this to be a very relaxing process. 

I learned enough to design this for a

Sashiko Cherry Blossom Pincushion ~ Click Here

I would like to learn more and advance my skills and make more even stitches

and make a small sampler for ...

Following on from my Boro Bag Post .  I want to talk a little today about Needles, Threads and Fabric for Boro Stitching.

Basically to get the best results (and the most stress free Stitching experience) you need to use the best combination of needle and thread for the fabrics you are using.

Because, if you use a needle that is too small or big for you fabric and chosen thread your gonna hit problems, and at the very least your work is going to fight you. Basically not so much fun as frustration. So it pays to use the right ...

Here is a link to the Japanese Boro Bag Tutorial I used to make my own Boro Bag below.

And read about Sashiko and Boro Work

This tutorial has lovely pics and some basic instructions. I'm just going to go into a little bit of detail on how I put this bag together for those of you who need a little more detail. So this post is not how to make the bag. The Japanese Boro Bag Tutorial link above does that. This post simply gives a little more detail of how I made the Boro Bag. So follow ...

Last week was the end of the #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt (Art). It was a great finish, even if I was less organised as the month went on. I want to thank Frédérique of Quilting Patchwork Appliqué for a wonderful challenge. I really learned a lot and am so happy to have participated. Here's a look at the last week's post.

V is for Village

This project, Amalfi Coast Happy Village was one of my first art quilts, although I didn't realise it at the time. It was made during a workshop with the owner of a local quilt shop ...

 Hello there my Stitching Friends. Today I want to share with you my latest Boro Inspired piece of work. 

I find this Traditional Japanese style of stitching wonderfully relaxing. It's based on need rather than decoration but still manages to produce a visually strong finished piece of work. 

I'm making my piece of Boro fabric into a Bag. But technically that's the wrong way around! Boro traditionally didn't start It's life as Boro. It slowly became Boro over years of daily use and mending.....

Boro is filled with lots of lovely Hand Stitching called Sashiko ...

 Hi, I hope that February finds you well. I thought that I would take the time to write about projects that were completed recently but not posted.

Finishing a Journal Cover 

In the last few months I finished a special journal cover for a dear friend. 

Finished Japanese Journal Cover - Front

Finished Japanese Journal Cover - Back

You may remember the original fabric that I free motion quilted (FMQ) last March (see Related links below).

The piece was meant for a larger journal but when I came to make it, I did measure three ...